Question

My students often tell me that they don’t have “enough time” to do all their schoolwork.

My reply is often a brief “You have as much time as the president.” I usually carry on a bit about there being twenty-four hours in the day for everyone, and suggest that “not enough time” is not an acceptable explanation of not getting something done.

Once in graduate school(研究院), I tried to prove to one of my professors by saying that I was working hard. His answer to me was, “That’s irrelevant. What’s important is the quality of your work，Since then I have had time to think carefully about the “hard worker” dodge (诀窍), and I have come to some conclusions — all relevant to the problem of how much time we have.

If you analyze(分析) the matter, you can identify two parts of the problem: There is, of course, the matter of “time”, which we can think of as fixed. Then there is the problem of “work” during that time. But, as my professor suggested, it’s not how hard one works but the quality of the product that’s important.

That led me to a new idea: the quality of the work. That concept is perhaps best explained by a sign I once saw on the wall in someone’s office: “Don’t work harder. Work smarter.” There is a lot of sense in that idea.

If you can’t get more time, and few of us can, the only solution is to improve the quality of the work. That means thinking of ways to get more out of the same time than we might otherwise get. That should lead us to an analysis of our work habits. Since “work” for students usually means “homework”, the expression “work habits” should be read as “study habits”.

Then, as a smart student, you will seek to improve those skills that you use in study, chiefly reading and writing. If you learn to read better and write better, there are big benefits that pay off in all your studies.

1.From the passage, we know that the author is probably _______ .

A. an educator B. a poet

C. a novelist D. an engineer

2.We can infer from the second paragraph that we students still _______ .

A. can meet the president

B. have enough time

C. can get everything done well

D. should accept the explanation

3.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word in paragraph 2?

A. unnecessary B. different

C. irrelated D. funny

4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. The author’s students make good use of their time to do all their homework.

B. The author tried to tell the professor that he/she (author) had done a good job.

C. You’ll try to improve your skills in reading and writing if you’re a clever student.

D. You can’t improve the quality of the work if you can’t get more time.

5.What’s the passage mainly about?

A. Don’t work harder; work smarter.

B. Students don’t have enough time.

C. No one can get more time.

D. Read better and write better.

Answer 1

1.A

2.B

3.C

4.C

5.A

【解析】

试题分析：本文主要介绍了作者通过学生的反馈没有足够时间做家庭作业的问题，引起了作者对没把工作做好是否是因为时间不够的问题的思考，最后作者发现：想要做好工作并不是努力就可以而是要提高工作质量，不是努力工作而是更聪明的工作，这一说法也同样适用于学生的学习。

1. students often tell me that they don’t have “enough time” to do all their schoolwork.可知“我”的学生经常告诉我他们没有足够的时间去完成家庭作业。故选A.

2. I have come to some conclusions — all relevant to the problem of how much time we have.可知作者得出一些结论：所有相关的问题是我们到底有多少时间。因此我们可以推出学生其实仍然有足够的时间的。故选B.

3. important is the quality of your work，最重要的是你的工作质量，其它的都是没有关系的。以及all relevant to the problem of how much time we have.可知所有有关的问题其实是我们的时间。也可以的出这个单词的意思的。故选C.

4. as a smart student, you will seek to improve those skills that you use in study, chiefly reading and writing.可知聪明的学生将会寻找提高这些技能的方法用在学习中，主要是阅读和写作上。选项C是这句话的同义置换。故选C,

5. work harder. Work smarter.”不要努力工作，而是要聪明的工作。这句是文章的主旨句，故选A.

考点：考查议论文阅读。